The last will and testament of Alen Kopitar, family patriarch reads as follows: I, Alen Kopitar, hereby write that this document is my last will and testament, and that Joško, my most trusted confidant, is the executor of said will…

From the editors: “Kristina Zdravič Reardon’s ‘In the Desert’ reads like an evocative polaroid of an archeologist’s state of mind as he contemplates his life’s work in the deserts of Egypt. Purposely leaving her piece absent of dialogue and plot-fueled action, Reardon plays the part of “omnipotent narrator,” delving into her sole character’s philosophic musings in order to comment on the sometimes dualistic and paradoxical nature of the universe and human relationships. Reardon’s tone is both reflective and melancholy, properly coinciding with the feelings of distance, isolation and self-discovery that a desert landscape presents to anyone who dares to tread its ancient terrain.”

You awaken to the soft sound of a scream from two floors down, your mother on the telephone, mouthing no. I watch as you turn your head, still full of sleepy velvet, over the side of your pillow and cradle your cheeks in your hands, sliding your fingers slowly down and up like a peaceful ocean wave that tucks and returns…